July-August 2019
www.branchburgnews.com
Replacement Discussed as Solution to Wooden Bridge Closure; No More Detours through Narrow Neighborhood Roadways
Branchburg Central Middle School, Class of 2019
Branchburg Central Middle School held its eighth grade graduation ceremony at the school on June 19. Thanks to Branchburg Central Middle School Secretary Debra Jacobsen for helping us put together this year’s BCMS grad list. The list contains 175 students. Students with roles listed in the graduation program include: Anjali Krishnamurti, Treasurer, Student Council (flag salute); Luke Bouziotis, Secretary, Student Council (welcome greeting); Jamie Chiang, Called the “wooden bridge” for its road deck, the span is estimated to be about President, Student Council (class address); Sarah Rescigno, Vice125 years old, pre-dating the motor-vehicle revolution. President, Student Council (closing Three public meetings in two ure out what the long-term solution remarks). weeks have brought some clarity to should be. During that time, the Graduates are: the puzzle of the closure of the di- Central Place/Miller Avenue detour Tyler Abramo, Natalie Acosta, Malapidated River Road bridge over the combination will be abandoned and rissa Aliseo, Andrew Altobelli, KatNJ Transit rail line near the North changed to a combination of River erina Altomonte, Kalyn Ammerlaan, Branch train stop. Road, Stony Brook Road, Harlan Anastazja Armstrong, Annabelle The wood-deck bridge was closed School Road and Readington Road. Ascolese, Ashley Azzinnari, Thomas on June 5 after an inspection by the Bertoni said getting the tempo- Bayles, Nadine Beydoun, Sebastian New Jersey Department of Trans- rary bridge up and running will Blomquist, Brody Bouziotis Luke portation (NJDOT) found it in take about six months “give or take.” Bouziotis, Nolan Bouziotis, Skylar “poor condition requiring the im- Once the temporary bridge is in Bray, Alyssa Breen, Allison Brenner, mediate closure,” as described in an place, there will no longer be a need Rider Bumgarner, Anthony Burke, NJDOT news release. Johnny Burke, Alexis Butler, Jacob for detours. The township was forced to imTo really understand the twists Cafferata, Daniel Carman, Joseph provise a temporary detour that and turns of the forthcoming pro- Cassella, Jamie Chiang, Ifeanyi mainly involved shunting traffic cess, it’s a good idea to attend town- Chigbo, Justin Christensen, Nichofrom River Road and Station Road ship meetings or watch them online. las Christopulos, Noah Cianfaro, along Miller Avenue and Central Videos are archived at www.branch- Mia Cirafesi, Jason Ciurleo, ElizaPlace, two narrow, winding, roughly burg.nj.us. Click on “Webcast Meet- beth Cleary, Kaitlyn Cole, Ella Cospaved streets which historically have ings.” scroll down to “Past Meet- man, Lindsy Cox, Gavin Craig, Jorbeen used mainly by residents of the ings,” move to the meeting date to dan Curau, Sophia Davis, Andrew neighborhood. The prospect that be viewed, and click on “video” at DeAngelis, Clark Debraski, Caroline traffic would be diverted through the right. Devero, Aishwarya Dodda, Andrew those streets for an indefinite period In an email to The Branchburg Doherty, Edward Duffy, Alex Erof time brought residents to town- News on June 18, Bonin wrote: ickson, Caitlin Eswein, Luca Ettore, ship meetings to speak their minds. “We are working towards finding Logan Fabriczi, Jeremiah Feliciano, The Township Committee meet- a resolution to the detour that will be Connor Flanagan, Elodie Flanagan, ing on June 10 and the Coffee with the safest for the community. There Hunter Flynn, Sabrina Fodor, Cathe Mayor event on June 15 were is no good answer to this problem. mila Franco, Sydney Fried, Emma mostly all about the situation. A spe- Only degrees of ‘bad’ solutions. The Gehring, Rachel Geller, Andy Ghosh, cial Township Committee meeting Miller/Central detour was put in Kyle Giacobello, Meghan Grace, on June 18 brought state involve- place as an emergency measure as we Liam Hall, Gregory Hernandez, Aliment, with the presence of Sen. had hours to put a detour in place yah Hoghooghi, Gwyneth Horvath, Kip Bateman and NJDOT Depury from the time NJDOT notified Matthew Hovey, John Iovino, ValCommissioner Joseph Bertoni. us of the closure to that evening’s entin Ivanov, Sydney Jackus, Leah Based on comments by Bertoni rush hour. We never saw this as a Johnson, Emily Jones, Andrew Karand Township Administrator Greg preferred detour and knew it would lis, Brayden Keller, Brendan Kelley, Bonin, it appears the solution, in a have to be amended. Noelle Kientzler, Jenna Kilpatrick, nutshell, will be replacement of the “We have always found that work- Isabelle Kornas, Kayla Kovacs, Anjali existing bridge by the state with a ing with the residents produces the Krishnamurti, Emilia Kronow, Ryan temporary bridge that meets mod- best possible outcome and will con- Lachow, James Larino, Jason Lauducern codes. This will give the state, tinue to do that whenever possible.” ci, Kadin Liddell, John Link, Vincent township and residents time to figLombardo, Daniel Londono, Isabella
Getting ready to graduate from BCMS are Mason Marchese, Lucas Marchese, Peter Zaninelli, Lorenzo Varona, and Alex Nawrath. - Photo by Jess Zaninelli
Londono, Allison Lopac, Grant Maccini, Lucas Marchese, Mason Marchese, Meagan Marshak, Madison Marulli, Timothy Marulli, Benjamin McClaine, Shawn McGowan, Antoine McLean, Megan McNeil, Juliana Memoli, Joseph Migliore, Ethan Miller, Phoebe Montemurro, Jack Morais, Alexander Nawrath, Evan Nebab, Daniel Novak, Evan Osworth, Avery Owens, Kira Pace, Olivia Pacheco, Dhruvi Pai, Rohana Pandey, Ellie Papavero, Nicholas Papavero, Michael Pareja, Madelyn Parry, Milan Patel, Tanvi Patro, Christopher Perlman, Alexandra Peterson, Alexander Phelps, Kailyn Placko, Michael Powell, Rishi Purohit, Andy Ramirez, Kevin Reilly, Chelsea Reinhardt, Jonas Reinhart, Tyler Repetto, Sarah Rescigno. Katelyn Richardson,
Nicole Rinaldi, Dylan Rolon, Toni Romani, Ella Romano, Joshua Rutka, Brooke Rynearson, Alexandra Sadowski, Rachel Salardino, Tyler Schiebler, Patrick Scholz, Samantha Schweid, Caitlyn Scott, Zachary Shapiro, Austin Sheats, Christian Sina, Ryan Smith, Sophia Sodbinow, Christopher Springsteel, Ryan Stangle, Kolbie Stellpflug, Jaci Rae Stephens, Erin Stinner, Lily Tews, Zachary Tistan, Carson Torchio, Dean Tracey, Samuel Tunkel, Madylin Van Dyke, Lorenzo Varona, Dante Victorella, Johnathan Walker, Aidan Walnoha, Jacob Weinblatt, Benhanan Weldegebriel, Karson Wengryn, Tayden White, Megan Wilkins, Quesean Williams, Collin Williamson, Matthew Wright, Cosner Yang, Madison Young, Peter Zaninelli